Caratteristiche del testo delle Institutiones riflesso nelle Etymologiae di Isidoro di Siviglia

In books I-III of his Etymologiae, Isidore largely quotes from the second book of Cassiodorus’ Institutiones, being the earliest evidence thereof. Since Mynors’ edition, Isidore’s copy of the Institutiones has been regarded as a witness of the ‘authentic’ form of book II (Ω), subsequent to Cassiodorus’ rewriting of his own first draft (ω). Nevertheless, the Etymologiae appear in some passages to be closer to ω than to Ω: this may be explained by placing their exemplar in an intermediate position between these two authorial versions. Some common readings and interpolations also enable us to associate Isidore’s copy of the Institutiones with that of Liber breviarius Pauli Abbatis (δ), a brief text of possible Carolingian origin summarizing Cassiodorus’ book II on liberal arts. The analysis of δ and Isidore’s textual agreements with ω and, alternatively, Ω, gives us further details on Cassiodorus’ complex rewriting of Institutiones II, showing the extent and nature of his work before and after the copy of their common exemplar.